Defense urges ad hoc court to dismiss charges
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Technicalities were again the order of the day for defense lawyers in the East Timor human rights violations trial as they challenged the legality of the charges on Monday.
Defense lawyers for four middle-ranking military officers and a police chief accused of culpability during a church massacre demanded that the court reject the indictment, claiming that it was premature because the ad hoc tribunal had not yet declared their subordinates, who were accused of being directly involved in the violence, guilty.
"It is strange that the defendants, as the commanding officers, have already been charged with responsibility for their troops' misdemeanors, while the troops themselves have yet to be tried here," Lt. Col. Nurhajizah of the Indonesian Military's (TNI) legal section told the court.
They also insisted that the rights court had no authority to try the cases because prosecutors used the association charge stipulated in Article 55 of the Criminal Code, which is normally recognized by a civilian court instead of an ad hoc tribunal.
Citing Law No. 26/2000 on human rights tribunals, the lawyers said the charges were not crimes that could be tried at the human rights tribunal.
It was the second hearing for former Covalima regent Col. Herman Sedyono, former Suai military commander Lt. Col. Liliek Koeshadianto, his successor Lt. Col. Sugito, former Suai military command chief of staff Capt. Achmad Syamsudin and former Suai Police precinct chief Lt. Col. Gatot Subiaktoro. Suai is the capital city of Covalima regency in the southwestern corner of East Timor.
They were blamed for failing to control the people under their command, including five pro-autonomy militia leaders, who were accused of killing at least 27 people taking refuge in the St. Ave Maria Church in September 1999, just days after the Aug. 30 ballot in which nearly 80 percent voted for independence.
The defendants were also accused of purposely ignoring information that their troops were conducting a direct attack on civilians at the church, including three Catholic priests Tarsisius Dewanto, Hilario Madeira and Fransisco Soares.
The lawyers further questioned the retroactive principle recognized in the human rights tribunal law, which according to them "violates the amended 1945 Constitution which protects anybody from retroactive (human rights) charges."
The amendment in question was enacted in 2000, shortly before the ad hoc rights court was established.
Presiding judge Cicut Sutiarso adjourned the trial until April 2 to hear the prosecutors' response.
Unlike the first hearing, there were only a few top military officers in the audience at the Central Jakarta District Court. Last week TNI chief Adm. Widodo A.S. and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto were in attendance "to give moral support to the defendants".
Many countries have pressed Indonesia to punish those responsible for the violence, which the United Nations estimates killed several hundred people and forced more than 250,000 people across the border into Indonesian-ruled West Timor.
In all, 18 military, police and civilians are standing trial for crimes against humanity there. However rights activists criticized state prosecutors for failing to charge former Armed Forces chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who was head of the military at the time.